A group of six teenagers trudged forward under the morning sun, their clothes tattered and patched as best they could with their limited resources. Their faces were finally clean, free from the grime, soot, and blood that had covered them just days before. They had rested by the chasm for a few days, using that time to recover, plan, and prepare for the journey ahead. What remained of the wyvern had been turned into dried rations—a rare delicacy under normal circumstances, but for them, it was simply survival. Flavor meant little when every meal could be their last. Now, they stood before the Whispering Forest, a vast expanse of twisted trees so dense that sunlight failed to penetrate its canopy. A world of grey surrounded them, the towering trees looming like ancient sentinels, their gnarled trunks hiding whatever horrors lurked within. From deep inside the forest, whispers drifted toward them—men and women, children and elders, the dead and the living—murmuring in countless voices, their words indistinct yet filled with an eerie presence. Damon turned to the others, his voice kept low, never rising above the whispers. "Let's go. Stay close, and remember everything we've discussed. This isn't the Duhu Mountains. The rules may help, but the creatures here might not care for them." The others nodded in silence. No words were needed. Damon gripped his giant axe tightly, the two wyvern fangs strapped to his back like swords. He exhaled slowly, muttering a soft prayer. "Glory be to the Goddess of Doom… Guide our path and save us from a most dastardly fate." With that, he took a single step forward. The world shifted. The moment he crossed the threshold, he felt an unsettling change. The air grew thick, pressing against his skin like an unseen force. The colors around him dulled, draining into an eerie monotone. Before him stretched the same twisted trees, but now they loomed impossibly tall, as though he had stepped into a different realm altogether. He turned back—only to find the path behind them gone. The clearing where they had stood was no more. In its place lay an endless forest. Taking a deep breath, Damon silently thanked himself for the precaution he had taken earlier—tying all of them together with a single rope so they wouldn't be separated. "This is the Whispering Forest…" Leona murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. Damon nodded, adjusting his grip on his axe. "Don't speak above the whispers. Don't say your name or anyone else's. From now on, we refer to each other by numbers." The others exchanged wary glances before nodding in agreement. They pressed forward in silence, their senses on high alert. This was the Whispering Forest—ancient, cursed, and teeming with monsters. Here, the land itself was an enemy. But just like the Duhu Mountains, the forest had its own set of rules. Or rather, its monsters had weaknesses. The old travel journal had outlined some of them—a guide to surviving the horrors within. However, judging by the state of the book, Damon suspected that its original author had not survived long enough to finish it. Each page bore a different handwriting, a testament to the many travelers who had perished within the forest, leaving behind only fragments of knowledge. Some had even left their bloodstains on its pages. But their suffering would not be in vain. Their lessons, their many deaths and failures—they would be the foothold that Damon and his party would use to stay alive. And so, they moved forward, into the depths of the unknown, armed with nothing but their will to survive. The first hour in the Whispering Forest was not entirely uneventful. Though nothing attacked them, the oppressive air of the woods made even silence feel ominous. Then again, the Duhu Mountains had seemed safe for a time before true horror revealed itself. They navigated the treacherous flora carefully, avoiding the deadly plants detailed in the travel journal. As they walked, they forced themselves to ignore the whispers—hundreds of voices, speaking in hushed tones, weaving together in an endless, mind-numbing murmur. They had to resist making sense of the words, for understanding them meant succumbing to the madness of the forest. They had also occasionally caught glimpses of silhouettes in the distance, however no harm came to them. Even so, the first sign of their inevitable struggle began to surface. Leona suddenly faltered, her breath hitching as her knees buckled. A crimson trickle seeped from her ears. She clutched her head, groaning softly, never raising her voice above a whisper. "Ahhh…" Evangeline immediately knelt beside her, concern etched across her face. She placed her palms against Leona's temples, channeling a soft, golden light that seeped into her flesh, mending the unseen damage. "Are you—" "Don't say her name," Damon cut in sharply, his voice barely above the whispers. Evangeline snapped her mouth shut and nodded in understanding. Damon turned away, scanning their surroundings. They had no landmarks to guide them. The map they carried was useless if they couldn't determine their own location. Frustration gnawed at him, but he exhaled slowly, forcing himself to think. If nothing else, he could use his shadow perception to create a mental map, charting their course through spatial awareness alone. Closing his eyes, he expanded his senses, allowing his awareness to flow outward like inky tendrils. The forest was dim, the shadows long and shifting, making it an ideal terrain for his abilities. His own shadow quivered beneath him, a silent warning, but he pressed forward. As his perception slithered through the darkness, it brushed against the trees—massive, gnarled things with twisted limbs. It traced the contours of boulders, dipping into crevices where unseen creatures lurked. He pushed farther, threading past shattered tree trunks and stagnant mist, his senses tingling as he skirted around lurking monsters. And then— 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 Something opened its eyes. A grotesque form, barely distinguishable from the surrounding darkness, turned its gaze toward him. It saw him. It smiled. A slow, creeping grin filled with something ancient, something wrong. An overwhelming sense of dread crashed into Damon like a tidal wave, his heart pounding violently against his ribs. His shadow screamed. The pain was immediate and unbearable. A razor-sharp agony lanced through his mind, as though his very thoughts were being shredded. Blood erupted from his mouth, cascading down his chin in thick rivulets. His ears, his nose, even his eyes began to bleed, crimson soaking his clothes as he convulsed violently. He collapsed to his knees, fingers clawing at the ground, his consciousness flickering like a dying flame. "Ahhhhhh—" His scream shattered the fragile silence, rising above the ceaseless whispers. His friends rushed to his side, panic-stricken, their voices urgent yet hushed. Sylvia and Evangeline grabbed hold of him, their hands glowing as they tried to heal the damage. But he knew. It was coming. He forced his trembling arm to lift, his bloodstained fingers pointing in the direction of that monstrous thing lurking in the dark. With a choking gasp, he forced the words from his failing lungs. "Run… r-run…" The taste of iron filled his mouth as his body went still. Darkness swallowed him whole.